1) The Game Manual
This is an HTML on line document which you read via your Internet browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. (We also refer to this as the "Game Guide" or GG).

There are several routes to opening this document.
1.1) On the Windows Start menu for the game there is a shortcut entitled "Game Manual". Click on this.

1.2) When the Game Options programme is displayed, choose the Help tab. The one with the Dakota on it. On that tab, press the "Read the Game Manual" link.

1.3) For those who prefer - navigate to the \game notes folder under the main WinSPWW2 folder. Find the spww2guide.htm file and open that.

The HTML Game Manual has hot links to the various sections in the left hand frame. Suggested useful ones to start with are:
Introduction
Frequently Asked Questions
Playing WinSPWW2 -Tutorial
Game Play Notes
Main map Window (and subsequent sections through to Game Ending) You should read these before posting on the forum as most basic questions are answered there.

2) When playing the game, there are text based help screens to provide an overview of the basic functionality in that game screen. In most game screens, the shortcut for the help screen is the "?" key, or a button with a red "?" icon. Some screens may have a regular text button entitled "Help".

The help screen has the following sections (available via buttons at the right of the screen).
Main Help - the overview of the help system.
Game Help - the help for the game play screens (i.e. after the deployment screen)
Deploy Help - This is for the troop deployment phase.
Editor Help - Help for the scenario and map editors.
PBEM help - Some help on PBEM procedures
MapGen help - Notes on the random map generator.

3) Late breaking read-mes
Any additional information which may not have made it into the manual can be found as text files in the \Game Notes sub-folder.

4) Learning the Game System
We provide a tutorial scenario and a structured walk-through of this in the online HTML Manual and, if you have the CD edition of the game, the tutorial walk through is printed in the "Getting Started with WinSPWW2" introductory guide. We recommend all new players to at least read through the tutorial walk through since it covers the basic game functionality. Such as "how do I move into a hex with other troops in it" and "how do I load passengers into a transport" etc. Use the Playing WinSPWW2-Tutorial hot link in the HTML Game Manual.

5) Tuning your Machine or Game
Please refer to the following sections of the Game Manual.
Running WinSPWW2 - for how to set up game options via the Game Options control panel application. (scroll speed, windowed or full screen mode etc).
Tuning Your Machine - About setting up your hardware etc.
Preferences screen - For tuning game-play options.
Scenario Editor - To learn how to modify or create scenarios.
User Campaign Editor - To learn how to link togeter your scenarios as a User Campaign.
Customising WinSPWW2 - for detail required to hack or modify the game data. (list of all unit classes is available here, with special abilities notes)

6) Mobhack data editor
Mobhack HTML help is available through the Help button on the main page of the programme, or the help menu item. It is also available through the Game Options control panel, on the help tab.

NB - Although some game mechanics details are mentioned in the Game Manual, the Mobhack help file has more of the "nuts and bolts" type detail that some gamers may want to read, even if they are not planning on modifying OOBS themselves. Skim through the "Units tab", "Weapons Tab" and (possibly) "Formations Tab" sections of the Mobhack Help for game internal mechanics details.

7) If you are having problems in the game with crashes
a)Ensure you turn all sounds off first
- In the game Options programme turn "Mouse Interface Click" to off
- On the game main screen, go to the preferences screen and turn both sound setting buttons to off
b) if the game now runs fine, then you have a problem with your sound card, or perhaps with a non-Microsoft CODEC having been installed, or both. NB - WinSPWW2 is issued with the sound files in WAV format rather than MP3 as we found many cheaper sound cards could not play multiple MP3 streams simultaneously. Sound problems should therefore be less of a problem than with WinSPMBT.

8) These forums! If you cannot find the answer to your question in the supplied game help documentation, the next place to look is this forum. Spend some time browsing the threads here to see if your query has already been answered before posting a duplicate thread!. If it is a common question, it most likely will have been answered already. (try using the search functon at the top of the page and searching on keywords).